Have you ever wanted to increase your intelligence levels and perform at your cognitive best? Perhaps you’ve heard how some teachers claim that no matter how hard you study, you wouldn’t get smarter? Well, unfortunately for them, research back in 2008 has shown some really tremendous data about increasing the intelligence amongst students from a few methods that will be highlighted in this article. This means actually increasing your capacity to learn new information and retain it, as well as learning a new skill. Without further ado, let's take a look at these 5 ways which you can start practicing immediately.
Seek Novelty
What this means simply is just finding new activities to learn and master, which allows you to improve your intelligence. Being open to new experiences is one of the traits that directly correlate to one’s increase in intelligence. For one, when you learn something new, connections in your brain are formed, increasing neural activity and building on other connections. By constantly exposing yourself to learning new things, you put your brain in a continued state of learning, preparing your brain to continue being motivated to learn.
By challenging yourself, it means constantly learning something and moving on to something else new. Everyone has probably heard about “brain training” games such as Sudoku or the handphone game “Luminosity”. Well, these games simply don’t work after you pass the initial learning phase because all you’re doing is making your brain more proficient at playing the game. What you really want to be doing is not increasing your efficiency in the game, but rather move on to a new activity that will put you in a constant state of discomfort and struggle.
Think Creatively
Thinking creatively doesn’t imply that you should pick up something like Art or poetry. The general misconception with creative thinking is that it involves utilizing only the right side of the brain, but true creative thinking requires you to utilize both halves of the brains. They involve making connections between subjects of seemingly opposite natures and require constant thinking that borders between both the conventional and the unconventional.
Doing things, the hard way involves getting rid of efficiency. That’s right, it means going all out against the very thing that technology is trying to improve in our everyday life. It doesn’t do your brain any favor when you decide to reach for your calculator to find the answer to (20*5) or a simple problem sum. Sometimes, it’s better to exercise that organ in you that is processing everything you see.
Network
That’s right, interaction with others actually exercises your ability to think and process scenarios. When you network with others, either through social media or in person, you get to really see things from a new perspective and expose yourself to all kinds of different scenarios. It’s an overall great way to increase your intelligence as well as bring you some social and emotional benefits.